Arrays of sensors may be deployed over an area or throughout an environment to sense changes in variables within that environment. There are many examples of such arrays, ranging from seismic sensors deployed over a wide geographical area, to safety and security detectors used as part of a home security system, to electrodes attached to the scalp of a patient about to undergo neurological monitoring. The map locations of the sensors in an array may be important because both the amount of a change in a variable and the location where that variable changed may be important, such as in each of the three simple examples given above.
In an enclosed or partially enclosed environment, sensors may be connected by wires or cables to a server that receives their signals. In such an environment, the server knows which sensor is sending a particular signal because the sensor's media access control (MAC) address is part of the message from the sensor and the sensor is linked by a physical wire. However, a MAC address only identifies a specific piece of hardware on a network, hardware electrically connected to the server, but it does not identify its physical location in the normal sense of an address. However, the wire lead runs to the physical location of each sensor. Thus, when setting up a hard-wired network, the physical location of each sensor is confirmed as its wire is run. However, running wires is not always possible. Wireless sensors may be needed instead. An example of where wireless sensors are needed is the first of the three examples given above, when there are seismic sensors deployed over a large area, perhaps one crossed by roads or completely inaccessible by vehicle. Wireless sensors are also preferred when wiring takes up space or adds weight and cost but they still need to be mapped.
An effective way to map the locations of wireless sensors would make it easier to use wireless sensors and thereby speed deployment of them, and obtain the advantages of reduced installation time, costs and material requirements.